It's been awhile. I suspect those words come up a lot this time of the year. I was cleaning out my favourite links when I came across the link to a mate's blog. I haven't blogged/read blogs in months so it was fun to sit back and start from the most recent post and go back a bit, getting a feel for all that he'd been up to in a while.
After a few posts, it was clear that he has had a good year and I stopped reading and wrote an email to say as much and a bit more. Then I remembered my own neglected blog and thought I'd leave a quick post.
The year has been extremely eventful but I've hung on and have enjoyed most of it. The year-end holidays capped it off well...with a very enjoyable few days beach side. Sun, sea and sand while humming ..."Some people stand in the darkness, afraid to step into the light....." and fantasizing about bronzed Baywatch lifeguard in tight red shorts!
Have spent a few days in front of the tele catching the Ashes series....which hasn't been a great showing from an Australian perspective though British followers who happen to be cricket fans will certainly be thrilled with their men who batted and bowled exceptionally well in Adelaide and Melbourne and...it would be negligent to not give special mention to their efforts on the Boxing Day test in Melbourne, effectively sealing the series.
Don't spend too much time thinking of new year resolutions but there is a fair bit on the to-do list rolling forward from last year.
Dear readers...hope you've all had a relaxing break and wishing you a fantastic year ahead!!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Friday, September 18, 2009
When the blogger in you just can't keep up - Politics and more politics
My blogger self is struggling to keep up. Every so often as a random thought/idea pops into my head - I want to quiz the world about their thoughts on the matter. Now with a blog that only has 3 followers, this is far from the ideal platform. That said, until I can afford to buy a magazine or two from the Murdochs, this will have to do. If time permits, elaborations will follow, but here's the short version.
So, amongst the flutterings of the week:
Political point scoring. Which part of their job description includes flapping about in parliament either about something good they have done or picking apart the opposing team on some trivial but possibly embarrassing issue that is of no interest/benefit to the general public. Regardless of their claims, pollies get paid a fair sum. The fact that most of us wouldn't dream of doing largely due to the ridiculous levels of intrusion into their private lives doesn't change the fact that much is expected of them as they carry out their roles. In Australia, time and time again, disappointment looms large. Even when the government of the day manages to craft excellent policy or government intervention results in significant benefit to the people, that the public is then subjected to the flapping about in the media and crucial parliamentary time is wasted shoving that success down everyone's throat either in the form of self-indulgent speeches or Dorothy Dixer questions is a crying shame. More than that, it is not what ordinary Australians expect from politicians and we have every right to expect more.
Political party branch stacking and why it is our problem. Delegation can be a wonderful thing, but let the delegator beware. Branch stacking in the Australian Labor Party has been received a fair bit of press in the media of late. The Victorian and the NSW branches reported as being the worst. Let's leave NSW aside for the moment since any reasonable person would probably conclude, there is nothing right about the Labor party in NSW. Before the NSW Liberals crack a smile, the only reason they are not in government is that despite the numerous and spectacular fumbles by the NSW Labor party, the Liberals can't pull together some decent candidates and display some semblance of an ability to govern. Moving right along, political parties need members - lots of them. They pay dues as part of their membership and contribute to the running of the party. Quite simply, branch stacking involves the manipulation of branch membership by parties with other interests. One of the claims alleged that a branch had a significant amount of members whose membership dues had been paid by proxy. One wonders in that scenario if these people even knew they were members and presumably all membership based affairs were conducted by proxy. Fast forward to the governance and election process. When you go to the polls to cast your vote, you get to choose between the candidates on the ballot paper. When branches are stacked and factional and power-broker decisions have all the say in determining the names on that ballot paper, you can kiss any hope of having a government that can govern for the people. Instead, you get the parliamentarians who owe their positions to factions or the like and like a pay-day loan - the debt will be recalled with a scary interest rate to boot.
Is it time the public took a more active role in political parties. Colleagues who have dabbled warn me against in because the parties are generally pockets of 'strange people' that lord of the party and the evil tends to be so widespread that you remain involved at your peril. But isn't that a cop-out. I like to think that my vote matters. But does it, you choose one party over the other....but all the one party needs to be is slightly better than the other and they're almost a sure bet to win. Forget being good and actually doing things that are in the best interests of the country and its people all the time - they don't need to. In fact we had a government that for years didn't even try to, they just scared the pigments off the voters everytime the election came around about how awful the other side may be ....and I guess too many people fell for it.
This article isn't about left, right or moderate - it is about using our brain and having a say. The same way politicians should be allowed to cross the floor during voting time. It doesn't say much about the quality of bills and laws proposed if every politician in a party had to vote with the party line. All it says is that the party had the numbers. It would carry a completely different meaning if every member of a parliament could exercise their own choice and vote accordingly. It also allows to see our politicians individuals and better understand how they think and act. Much like when Liberal party politicians crossed the floor during the debate of the legislation regarding the financial penalties imposed on detained immigrants.
After all, we do have the regular song and dance about our democratic principles, may as well practice them.
More to come:
Workplace stress - what happened to changing tides in the workplaces with managers actually learning to manage people, tasks and roles. I don't see it and I don't hear it from anecdotes that colleagues share. Instead I see the awards handed out and I hear the rhetoric. Is rhetoric all it is? One tangent I would be keen to explore is the advances that small business has made in this regard. Is it generally true, that managers of small businesses actually have other concerns that rate equally among revenue and growth that allow for 'happier' workplaces for their employees?
The sweet as cupcake story - Good food vs icing sugared cupcake Round 1
Travelling and local laws - how much do local laws matter to you as a traveller. If those local laws would mean that you being you would rot in jail forever, would you still care to go? Is the pull of Pacific beaches, grass skirt dancing and coconut flavoured everything strong enough? Or would you vote with your feet and your money and take your inner traveller somewhere else where you wouldn't have to consciously be a different self to avoid a ruckus and the call to the consulate that no traveller really wants to have to make.
What do you think? I sure didn't write this to find out what I think on these matters. Now get off the computer and live your life before someone dobs you in as a net addict and ships you off to reform school.
Disclaimer: I'm no expert on any of these subjects, heck if I was I'd hope to actually make some money of my writing so bear that in mind.
So, amongst the flutterings of the week:
Political point scoring. Which part of their job description includes flapping about in parliament either about something good they have done or picking apart the opposing team on some trivial but possibly embarrassing issue that is of no interest/benefit to the general public. Regardless of their claims, pollies get paid a fair sum. The fact that most of us wouldn't dream of doing largely due to the ridiculous levels of intrusion into their private lives doesn't change the fact that much is expected of them as they carry out their roles. In Australia, time and time again, disappointment looms large. Even when the government of the day manages to craft excellent policy or government intervention results in significant benefit to the people, that the public is then subjected to the flapping about in the media and crucial parliamentary time is wasted shoving that success down everyone's throat either in the form of self-indulgent speeches or Dorothy Dixer questions is a crying shame. More than that, it is not what ordinary Australians expect from politicians and we have every right to expect more.
Political party branch stacking and why it is our problem. Delegation can be a wonderful thing, but let the delegator beware. Branch stacking in the Australian Labor Party has been received a fair bit of press in the media of late. The Victorian and the NSW branches reported as being the worst. Let's leave NSW aside for the moment since any reasonable person would probably conclude, there is nothing right about the Labor party in NSW. Before the NSW Liberals crack a smile, the only reason they are not in government is that despite the numerous and spectacular fumbles by the NSW Labor party, the Liberals can't pull together some decent candidates and display some semblance of an ability to govern. Moving right along, political parties need members - lots of them. They pay dues as part of their membership and contribute to the running of the party. Quite simply, branch stacking involves the manipulation of branch membership by parties with other interests. One of the claims alleged that a branch had a significant amount of members whose membership dues had been paid by proxy. One wonders in that scenario if these people even knew they were members and presumably all membership based affairs were conducted by proxy. Fast forward to the governance and election process. When you go to the polls to cast your vote, you get to choose between the candidates on the ballot paper. When branches are stacked and factional and power-broker decisions have all the say in determining the names on that ballot paper, you can kiss any hope of having a government that can govern for the people. Instead, you get the parliamentarians who owe their positions to factions or the like and like a pay-day loan - the debt will be recalled with a scary interest rate to boot.
Is it time the public took a more active role in political parties. Colleagues who have dabbled warn me against in because the parties are generally pockets of 'strange people' that lord of the party and the evil tends to be so widespread that you remain involved at your peril. But isn't that a cop-out. I like to think that my vote matters. But does it, you choose one party over the other....but all the one party needs to be is slightly better than the other and they're almost a sure bet to win. Forget being good and actually doing things that are in the best interests of the country and its people all the time - they don't need to. In fact we had a government that for years didn't even try to, they just scared the pigments off the voters everytime the election came around about how awful the other side may be ....and I guess too many people fell for it.
This article isn't about left, right or moderate - it is about using our brain and having a say. The same way politicians should be allowed to cross the floor during voting time. It doesn't say much about the quality of bills and laws proposed if every politician in a party had to vote with the party line. All it says is that the party had the numbers. It would carry a completely different meaning if every member of a parliament could exercise their own choice and vote accordingly. It also allows to see our politicians individuals and better understand how they think and act. Much like when Liberal party politicians crossed the floor during the debate of the legislation regarding the financial penalties imposed on detained immigrants.
After all, we do have the regular song and dance about our democratic principles, may as well practice them.
More to come:
Workplace stress - what happened to changing tides in the workplaces with managers actually learning to manage people, tasks and roles. I don't see it and I don't hear it from anecdotes that colleagues share. Instead I see the awards handed out and I hear the rhetoric. Is rhetoric all it is? One tangent I would be keen to explore is the advances that small business has made in this regard. Is it generally true, that managers of small businesses actually have other concerns that rate equally among revenue and growth that allow for 'happier' workplaces for their employees?
The sweet as cupcake story - Good food vs icing sugared cupcake Round 1
Travelling and local laws - how much do local laws matter to you as a traveller. If those local laws would mean that you being you would rot in jail forever, would you still care to go? Is the pull of Pacific beaches, grass skirt dancing and coconut flavoured everything strong enough? Or would you vote with your feet and your money and take your inner traveller somewhere else where you wouldn't have to consciously be a different self to avoid a ruckus and the call to the consulate that no traveller really wants to have to make.
What do you think? I sure didn't write this to find out what I think on these matters. Now get off the computer and live your life before someone dobs you in as a net addict and ships you off to reform school.
Disclaimer: I'm no expert on any of these subjects, heck if I was I'd hope to actually make some money of my writing so bear that in mind.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Clothing talk in a crowded lift
It has been six minutes since you arrived at the lift. You're waiting impatiently along with six other people. Finally it hits the ground floor, the doors open and everybody piles in. Before the doors close, someone just manages to sneak in. I noticed she was on the phone, along with the fact that there was a lot of skin on display. It always amuses me when someone steps in the elevator with a phone...my mind automatically starts the clock towards call death. This time however I was distracted...
"Oh, the size 10 was too big the last time, we should just get the size 8...and the skirt was too long. I want the short skirt." At this point, the five other people (all males) in the elevator are trying hard to stifle chuckles. Any hope of that ended when she continued with...
"Don't forget to get the bikini, yeah the hot black bikini"
Fortunately, with that, she exited the lift.
"Oh, the size 10 was too big the last time, we should just get the size 8...and the skirt was too long. I want the short skirt." At this point, the five other people (all males) in the elevator are trying hard to stifle chuckles. Any hope of that ended when she continued with...
"Don't forget to get the bikini, yeah the hot black bikini"
Fortunately, with that, she exited the lift.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Australian Marriage Equality
If you read The Age online regularly, you couldn't have missed the ads across the top of the web page. The Senate inquiry associated with the Bill introduced by the Greens Senator Sarah HY was accepting submissions until today. The Bill seeks to confer the right to marry to all Australian couples regardless of sex. I was thinking about the next sentence and almost wrote...One can only hope. But no, hope alone will not effect change. If you care enough about the issue, think about why and what you want to say and write a submission. Stand up and be counted !!!
The Australian Marriage Equality group is working for equal rights for all Australians with respect to marriage.
Everyone has an opinion on this issue. I have met many gay men who don't enjoy discussing the subject and are unhappy with the idea of getting married and the GLBT struggle for marriage rights. That clouds the discussion though because the fight is about the right to marry and like many rights, it won't be right for everyone. But, why should we deny any gay couple who wanted to marry the right.
The Australian Marriage Equality group is working for equal rights for all Australians with respect to marriage.
Everyone has an opinion on this issue. I have met many gay men who don't enjoy discussing the subject and are unhappy with the idea of getting married and the GLBT struggle for marriage rights. That clouds the discussion though because the fight is about the right to marry and like many rights, it won't be right for everyone. But, why should we deny any gay couple who wanted to marry the right.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Every so often, a star is born....
I love a good musical performance and your average person getting the chance to put their talent on the line in front of an audience. The advent of reality tv has resulted in numerous vocal/performance based talent shows. This audition on x-factor has been getting some media audition....and I don't know if it is the x-factor but that lad sure has something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xogs-qbqHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xogs-qbqHs
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Six feet under
Over the years, the series six feet under has come up during conversations at random. I had never watched an episode of six feet under before last friday and it always registered at the back of my mind that I should watch it sometime.
Had a few days of leave and couldn't get up to much so I rented out a few episodes. I can see why people like it, though the central theme of death can be disturbing and yet the bizarre elements of the show oddly appealing.
Only being six episodes in, it may be a bit early to comment.
Had a few days of leave and couldn't get up to much so I rented out a few episodes. I can see why people like it, though the central theme of death can be disturbing and yet the bizarre elements of the show oddly appealing.
Only being six episodes in, it may be a bit early to comment.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Spunky boys and tv
Drop dead diva...sounds silly > is silly. I was lying on the sofa feeling sorry for myself as I'm not feeling all that well. It is one of those 'something I had to eat type' sickies so nothing major but lazing around helps. The starving part is not so cool but the idea of food isn't tempting at the moment. Anyway, the tele was on and ditz a was talking to ditz b on the phone while driving. Blink and wham, accident, she dies and is greeted by a spunky 'angel at the pearly gates' person. Anyway, she gets cranky, hits the return button and her soul ends up in a body that is a lil bit different from the one she had - to put it mildly. I'm going to stop there because it doesn't deserve more of a write-up but the guardian angel man was a spunk !!
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